A SYSTEMIC failure to provide adequate nursing facilities and low staffing levels contributed to the death of a diabetic patient, an inquest jury ruled.

The jurors, who heard how Gillian Astbury slipped into a fatal diabetic coma at Stafford Hospital, pictured below, in 2007, found that the failure to administer insulin to the 66-year-old amounted to a gross failure to provide basic care.

Mrs Astbury was a patient at the hospital at a time when a subsequent inquiry found patients were routinely neglected and hundreds more patients than expected died on the wards.

The two-day inquest heard the diabetic from Hednesford was admitted to the orthopedic ward for bed rest after a fall which caused a broken pelvis.

But despite needing medication every day, nurses failed to give her insulin and she went into a coma. She died on April 11 2007.

Returning a narrative verdict, the 10-member panel also said the death was contributed to by the failure of nursing staff to record glucose levels, communicate properly with each other and read clinical notes.

In its verdict, the jury said: "Nursing facilities were poor, staff levels were too low, training was poor, and record-keeping and communications systems were poor and inadequately managed."

After the hearing, Mrs Astbury's daughter, Catherine Beeson, said: "Basic procedures should have been followed by the nurses. They are a bit of a disgrace to their profession and they let my mum down.

"The hospital focused completely on saving money at the cost of my mum's life."

Mrs Astbury's friend and carer, Ron Street, said: "Three-and-a-half years on, I am still trying to figure out how it happened that she was not given her insulin.

"I hold the management of the hospital in extreme contempt."

Antony Sumara, chief executive of the hospital, apologised for Mrs Astbury's care.

In a statement released when the inquest opened, he said: "You can't defend something as basic as not giving a known diabetic their insulin."

Mrs Astbury's relatives' barrister, Simon Michael, said: "There was a collapse in the system of nursing.

"Having listened to this mismanagement, her family cannot find anything positive to take from these circumstances."

Between 400 and 1,200 more patients than expected died at Stafford General Hospital between April 2005 and March 2008.

An inquiry starting in October will make recommendations to prevent a repeat of the failings.